17 – 26 SEPTEMBER 1944: THE BATTLE OF ARNHEM CEMETERIES & MEMORIALS Operation ‘Market Garden’ was the largest airborne assault in history, and one of the most daring and ambitious Allied operations of the Second World War. On 17 September 1944, Allied airborne troops landed behind enemy lines to capture vital river crossings in the Netherlands. The bridge at Arnhem was the furthest inside enemy territory and despite determined attempts, supporting ground forces could not reach their surrounded airborne comrades and secure the bridge. It became known as ‘a bridge too far’. After ten days of desperate resistance around 2,400 airborne soldiers managed to escape, but more than 6,000 were captured. 1 1 1 1 ARNHEM OOSTERBEEK WAR CEMETERY Constructed near the site of the airborne landings at Arnhem, this now peaceful and beautiful cemetery is where many of the Commonwealth and Polish troops who died in the Battle of Arnhem were laid to rest after the war. The cemetery is extremely important to the local community and each year on the anniversary of the battle, local school children meet to lay flowers on the graves – a tradition that dates back to 1945. 2 THE GROESBEEK MEMORIAL 2 IWM BU 10741 After the war great efforts were made to find and identify the fallen. However, the final resting places of many service personnel remain unknown. Built within CWGC Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, the Groesbeek Memorial commemorates more than 1,000 personnel who died in north-west Europe from the summer of 1944 until the end of the war who have no known grave. Over a third of the men commemorated here died during the ten day period of Operation ‘Market Garden’. A bridge too far - Arnhem Bridge September 1944 IWM MH 2061 2 2
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